NOW Magazine - winner of the Utne Reader 2001 Readers Poll Award for Local Coverage - is Canada's leading alternative news and entertainment weekly, and has been since its inaugural issue in September 1981. Over the years NOW's weekly readership...

It's no surprise the gift-sales-dependent retail industry is hurting, and the big video-game giants are no exception. But over at Big Fish Games, a Seattle studio that creates casual games involving jewel hunts or word puzzles, things are rosy.

According to the second annual Johnson Controls Energy Efficiency Indicator survey, 72 percent of North American companies report that they are paying more attention to energy efficiency than last year. But the percentage of companies planning to invest in energy-efficiency improvements has not increased.

After 22 years at the helm of the Durham-based Divers Alert Network, Peter Bennett is being forced out. Board members of the $14 million nonprofit say that in addition to helping divers, DAN's leader and his allies also were helping themselves.

When Rudy Carrillo didn't receive his paycheck from Phoenix Recycling last December, his family in Mexico went hungry. He's one of 17 Hispanic and African-American workers who claim that the Memphis plastic recycling plant stopped paying them shortly after Christmas.

More by Adria Vasil

In a world where big brand mayo companies are pushing their locavore roots, we've got to cut through the noise. To help you freshen up your locavore diet we're feeding you nine freshly-picked ideas that source no further than 100 miles from your front door and grow as close 10 feet from your back steps.

If your friends aren't amenable to a straight-up eco-themed party, just slip some earth-friendly goodness into their cocktails when they're not looking. How? Try implementing this trusty five-step plan.